"INFLUENCING GONE WRONG!" -Why followers need to be aware and not get fooled over & over again! | by Dr. Devashish Palkar

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“INFLUENCING GONE WRONG!”
–Why followers need to be aware and not get fooled over & over again!

A few days back, I got contacted by a company that is selling herbal preparation for ‘quitting smoking’ to promote their product online.
There are a lot of such products but it’s important to understand a few key points.
I will mention them here in this article. 
Please read.
Firstly, nothing against the brand. They are free to sell any product. But this message is important for the general public and more so for all the influencers. 
This brand has managed to get in specialist doctors with >15K followers also marketing their product. 
I was resisting the urge to write about it but I am ready to talk about it for the sake of science.
Disclaimer: This post is not meant to offend anyone. Neither do I claim to be an expert in herbal medicine. So I am not going to comment on that. 
Only arguing on their claims!So this particular brand makes tall claims like 
95% success rate
FDA approved, etc.
Now when they approached me for it, I asked them a few pertinent questions- 
1. Show me the research behind your product and 
2. The FDA approval.
They sent me the link to a website for their research.
They had conducted a study about the product without any proper RCT & had published a paper on it on a website that looks like a proper research article.
Except it is not a peer-reviewed journal but their own website!When I asked for the FDA approval they messaged me about the Clinical Trial Registration number. 
When I checked for the registration number this is what I got! (image attached).
Also, even if they had a “registration for trial” number it doesn’t mean it’s FDA approved for such purpose. Now I don’t know whether the influencers would be going through all this before even signing up for advertising such products. But ideally, they should.
Last of all, at least influencers who are doctors need to be aware of it & should stop misleading their loyal followers. This is the conversation that I had with one of their representatives when I tried to question them.
Who will tell these newly minted marketing guys that, scientific research is more important than the “belief” in their product? 
But it again makes me wonder whether our people even desire honesty and ethics! Scamsters are all around us and everyone is ready to get scammed.
Because in our country, “belief” trumps “science”.
Let’s change that, shouldn’t we?
“Belief“
That’s a strong word with an emotional connect. That’s what influences us in thinking that, “A sugary powder could be the secret of Sachin’s energy!”
We need to stop believing everything that an influencer/celebrity says!Just like “Do no harm” has to be our first principle as medical practitioners, I hope influencers keep, “Do not fool” as their first principle.
And for that, they shouldn’t get fooled themselves.
And we should just be a follower & not end up becoming a fool over & over again!
(Thank you for reading till here. I am a Psychiatrist & Psychotherapist. If you wish to have an online consultation with me you can mail me on devashishpsychiatrist@gmail.com)